For 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, Tuesday is Eid Al-Adha, the biggest religious holiday of the year that is cause for much celebration, fellowship and lots of food.

"'Eid' is a word in Arabic that means feast or festival and 'Adha' means sacrifice," said Kelley Williams, president of the Muslim Student Association at NMSU. "So, feast of the sacrifice."

This is not to be confused with the smaller holiday called Eid Al-Fitr, which comes after Ramadan earlier in the year.

Eid Al-Adha is a celebration of Abraham's devotion to God and willingness to sacrifice his son for Him, or the Binding of Isaac. It's a common story told in both the Quran and the Bible and it's commemorated in Islam like the birth of Jesus is in Christianity.

The local Muslim community will celebrate by gathering at the only mosque, or masjid, in Las Cruces Tuesday for prayers and sermons in the morning followed by a feast.

"There's a lot of people who make very elaborate dishes from their countries," Williams said. "We have a really good mix of a lot of different foods."

On Eid, the kids get gifts and for three or four days after Tuesday, families visit with each other and there are often times gifts given to charity, said Wedad Gospi, a member of the Islamic Center of Las Cruces.

"It's a really good thing for kids," she said.

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"It's a combination of all our religious types of worshiping at one time. It's very holy to us."

Gospi is from Libya and she lives with her husband, Abdulwart Heshek in Las Cruces. She said Eid is also marked by the end of the sacred pilgrimage, or hajj, that is done every year by millions of Muslims. It's a huge gathering at Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.

"We celebrate with the people who perform this duty of going to the house of Allah," Heshek said. "They're not worshipping the house. We meet together there and we use the same clothes so that the person who has millions of dollars is like the person who has nothing. We are all equal in front of Allah."

Islam is a way of life for Heshek and Gospi. They pray five times a day and thank God for everything that happens during the day. Devout Muslims live their lives according to the rules of Islam, which, for Heshek, means being a good husband - among other aspects.

"When I come home, I give Wedad a kiss," he said. "This is part of the religion, you have to show you are a caring husband."

For Daisy Maldonado, being Muslim means to submit herself to God.

She is a single parent and despite myths about the role of women in Islam, being Muslim has no affect on her ability to be in charge of her own household or raising her 6-year-old daughter, Haleemah Dupass, who has been Muslim since she was born.

Maldonado, who is Hispanic and from El Paso, converted to Islam eight years ago.

"I felt, like, a calling to it," she said. "It had all the answers I was looking for."

On Monday, during night prayer at the mosque, Maldonado, who also wears a hajib, kneeled on her knees next to her daughter, who wore a full-length, lime green burqa for the occasion. Two other women kneeled next to them silently. From the intercom, Abdulwart Heshek lead the prayer and read from the Quran in an adjacent room where men prayed in a similar manner, as seen through the windows of the women's side.

The mosque in Las Cruces is divided in two. One side is for men and the other is for women. It's not segregation; it's a way to respect the women and give them privacy, congregation members noted. There are also classrooms for Islamic school for the children and a large library.

Although Monday night prayer drew just a few women and more than a dozen men, Eid will fill both sides of the mosque with people who will come to pray and celebrate. The kitchens on both sides will also be filled to the brim.

In Las Cruces, it's unclear how big the Muslim population is, but it seems to be growing.

"For Eid, they have about 300 to 400 people at the masjid," Kelley Williams said. "I'd say between 500 to 1,000 Muslims (in Las Cruces) because there's a lot of Muslims who don't come to this mosque."

There are more than 3.4 million Muslims in the United States and 1.6 billion worldwide, making it the second largest religion in the world, according to Pew Research Center, pewresearch.org.

Despite its ubiquitous presence and large community, many Americans have misconceptions about Islam and who Muslims are.

"People confuse Islam with a political system. That is a huge misconception. It's a spiritual tradition like Christianity and Judaism." Williams said. "People think you have to be from the Middle East to be Muslim."

That's not true. Islam is a world faith and people from Middle Eastern countries only make up 19.8 percent of the world's Muslims, while people from Asia make up 61.7 percent.

The NMSU Muslim Student Association hosts a weekly educational booth at the Corbett Student Union. During this time, MSA members set out educational pamphlets and answer questions for passersby. Most questions are about violence and why Muslims treat women badly.

"'Why do Muslims beat their women?' That's what everyone wants to talk about," said MSA member Waleed Alkohlani, of the common misconceptions. "Most people don't know anything (about Islam). Zero."

Even when people do know a little bit about Islam, they have conflicting ideas, he said.

"The whole idea (of the weekly events) is to give the right image and give the right information," he said.

"If a lot of people took the time to learn about things we don't know about and don't understand, we can quickly dispel myths and we can quickly dispel misconceptions," Kelley Williams said. "Because that's what myths and misconceptions are — a lack of understanding."

Andi Murphy may be reached at 575-541-5453.

By the numbers

1.6 billion: Number of Muslims in the world, or 23 percent of the world's population.

985,530,000: Number of Muslims in Asia-Pacific, or 61.7 percent of all Muslims in the world.

317,070,000: Muslims in the Middle East, or 19.8 percent of all Muslims in the world.

248,110,000: Muslims in Sub-Saharan Africa, or 15.5 percent of all Muslims in the world.

43,490,000: Muslims in Europe, or 2.7 percent of all Muslims in the world.

3,480,000: Muslims in North America, or .2 percent of all Muslims in the world.

840,000: Muslims in South America, or .1 percent of all Muslims in the world.